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Monday, November 17, 2008

Final Comments on the Green Dragon

In comments below, Green Dragon owner Ed Schwartz gives a thorough debrief of the final days of the pre-Rogue era.
Yes it is true that I will no longer be the owner of the Green Dragon. While I am bummed out it didn’t work out with me as owner –I am grateful to Rogue for stepping in and doing the things that we could not. The city is requiring the building to be sprinkled, doors to be inset, walls to be built separating the brewery. They have additionally tacked on over 51k in CBC fees. Completing the brewery should take another 50k or so. The building has to be sprinkled by February in order to stay open. Lolo and I don’t have the resources to do this—the consequences being that everyone would lose their favorite watering hole, and several employees would lose their jobs…..which is why I began talking to Rogue. Viewing them as the enemy is silly—they are doing Portland and Green Dragon customers a favor by keeping this institution alive. I’d give them a break and see how things develop –their reasons for stepping in, as I understand it, are that they too fell in love with the Dragon and want to take what we started (19 rotating taps etc., meet the brewers nights, etc) and run with it.

I think emotions run high due to our feelings for the Green Dragon. Mine certainly are as well. In my dealings with Rogue I have gotten a sense that their heart is in the right place on wanting to take care of the customers, employees (providing them with health insurance and matching 401k which I could not) and Founders Club – If anybody has questions about anything—I’ll be in this Tuesday for Meet the Brewer and would be glad to answer any specific questions then.

Best to you,

Ed Schwartz
Green Dragon Brewpub
Thanks for the info, Ed. And best to you, too--

7 comments:

  1. I'm still a bit confused at the discrepancy between the two views. The brewpublic interview with Lolo made it sound like they both weren't on the same side of the decision, and this makes it sound like they are in agreement that it's Rogue or bust.

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  2. I am with DA. It is a bit unclear. However, if the deal does go through, I hope Lolo gets that dishwasher job.

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  3. Lolo is very much not on the side of Ed...in fact, he just took action today to ensure it doesn't happen...tht's all i'll say

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  4. Ed owns a controlling share, which enables him to do everything in terms of selling the company. And he's thrown way north of six figures into the biz in recent months to keep it going, which LoLo has not. It's Ed's to sell.

    I for one think Ed's comments are those of a stand-up guy who's truly trying to do right by people. There has been lots of flaming going on, and he's held himself above it, which I find admirable.

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  5. The dragon is dead, but it's been on a respirator for about a year, long before Ed came around.

    What I'm worried about is what is going to happen to the distillery. Ed owns less than 10% of Integrity, but nobody believes that Rogue just wants the Dragon. They want to absorb a direct and successful competitor. Joyce, no doubt with the assistance of Parker, went for the weakest link first.

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  6. What if they had sold to Deschutes, or Bridgeport, or, gulp, Budweiser. The fact is they needed money or bar go bye bye. if you love GD, you will go there. you'd be surprised who really owns many of the companies you support. by the way, rogue employs less than 250 people who somehow manage to produce and operate internationally. sounds like they know business. if you're still too choked up, there's like 5 million bars in portland.

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